The Hardball Times -- Jason Linden http://www.hardballtimes.com/main Baseball. Insight. Daily. en studes@hardballtimes.com Copyright 2013 2013-06-18T08:13:15+00:00 Currently historic: So many walks and strikeouts http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-so-many-walks-and-strikeouts/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-so-many-walks-and-strikeouts/#When:07:16:15
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Joey Votto slumped badly this week. That will happen from time to time. He's now on pace to reach base "only" 327 times. I'm going to keep tracking him because, frankly, if that's his pace after an especially bad week, it's almost bound to go up.

We also started tracking Votto's quest to become the fifth player to lead the league in walks and hits. Barring something crazy, Votto is going to lead the league in walks. He led the league last year despite missing 50 games with a knee injury. The challenge will be collecting enough hits. He's currently second to Jean Segura who, I have to believe, will come back to earth a bit more yet.

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Miguel Cabrera, boy what a player. He continues his triple crown quest. He currently leads the league in average and RBIs, but is second to Chris Davis in homers. Davis, remarkably, is second in average and RBIs. So, we have the same two batters in first and second place in all three triple crown categories. Cabrera is also leading the AL in OBP while Davis leads in slugging. They're pretty much monopolizing the leader boards to the point that I have to start tracking both.

I don't, however, expect it to last. Davis is a good player, but I don't think he's in Cabrera's league as a hitter. That's not an insult. As I discussed last week, Cabrera and Votto are pretty much the only two names in the best-hitter debate. I am also open to being proven wrong. if Davis keeps this up, he certainly becomes part of the equation.

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Yu Darvish fell just a little off last week's pace, but is still on pace to strike out 305. Even if his pace continues to fall, Darvish has an ace in the hole. The Rangers face the Astros 13 more times this year. The Astros, you may remember, are trying very, very hard to break the single-season team strikeout record. Obviously, the vagaries of the pitching rotation could keep him away from them, but it seems likely that he's good for two to four starts against the Astros.

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It is time to start tracking another pitcher's walks per nine innings. Bartolo Colon continues to display amazing control with his .512 rate, meaning that if he pitched back-to-back complete games, you'd expect to see one walk. But there is also Adam Wainwright, who is so out of his mind right now that Joe Posnanski wrote about it. Wainwright is currently walking .607 batters per nine.

On a related note, we have another stat to track for these two: K/BB ration. Adam Wainwright is striking out 14 batters for every batter he walks. That would break Bret Saberhagen's 1994 record by three full Ks. Colon is coming in at 10.5 K/BB. That would be could for second best ever (or third if Wainwright keeps it up).

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Strikeout tracking, week four...

Chris Carter, 82 Ks, 225 K pace: Carter is now almost halfway to 200 strikeouts and barring injury is starting to seem like a lock to cross the threshold sometime early in September.

Rickie Weeks 61 Ks, 176 K pace: I think it might be time to bid farewell to Weeks, who never really felt like he belonged on this list.

Adam Dunn, 72 Ks, 208 K pace: Dunn just keep running out there while providing almost no value. One more year, Sox fans. One more year. Still, we would be down to tracking Dunn and Carter as our only real 200-K threats, but for...

Mike Napoli, 80 Ks, 220 K pace: I know, right? I didn't see this coming either. Napoli does have some relatively high strikeout totals in his past, but they are masked by his catcher status. This year, he is playing mostly first, and thus playing every day. So we might have something here.

Rick Ankiel, 56 Ks, 154 K pace (43 percent K-rate). As noted last week, though he isn't playing enough to realistically challenge the 200-K mark, Ankiel is now in unheard of territory; no player has ever been given this much playing time while striking out this often. I'm just interested to see how far he'll go.

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The Astros and Braves are still on track to break the team strikeout record of 1,387. The current Astros pace is 1,550. The current Braves pace is 1,472. I'll have to look into this, but I wonder how likely it is that this season sees the most strikeouts ever by all teams combined.

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The list shrinks a little more this week. That will happen as we get deeper into the season...

Doubles:
Stop me if you've heard this one: Todd Helton didn't double this week and still sits just outside the top-20 list.

Adrian Beltre did double once and needs 22 more to reach 500.

David Ortiz still needs seven more to reach 500.

Home runs:
Albert Pujols still needs 17 to reach 500. There really couldn't be a much more straightforward decline than that of Pujols. Since 2009 when he was 29, his OPS has gone like this: 1.101, 1.011, .906, .859, .723. I wonder, in hindsight, if many of us were just blinded by the lofty heights he'd achieved. That .906 in 2011 is still really awesome and seemed like a "down" Pujols year at the time, but it's 200 points under his peak and more than a hundred points under his career average. Imagine a player falling from .901 to .706. You can bet a lot more people would take that seriously and no one would be rushing to give that player a mega-contract.

Torii Hunter still sits one homer shy of 300.

Runs batted in:
Pujols now needs 34 to reach 1,500.

Stolen bases:
Juan Pierre (605) stole a base this week and is now 14 steals away from seventh all-time.

Michael Bourn did not steal a base and still needs 16 to reach 300.

Showing up:
Mariano Rivera (1,074) needs 45 more appearances to catch John Franco for third.

Andy Pettitte started his 500th game. You know, if he hadn't missed some of the time he's missed, he'd really be closing in on some impressive numbers. CC Sabathia (395) and Bartolo Colon (386) continue to pitch every five days or so.

Wins:
Sabathia had a very nice start and moved up to 196 wins.

Andy Pettitte has 249 wins. Don't know why I haven't been paying attention to that, but I should be.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon needs 32 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
Ryan Dempster struck out six last night. He's now five short of 2,000.

Walks:
Pettitte did it. He walked three batters on Monday and passed the 1,000 mark.

Team accomplishments:
The Pirates slowed down this week, winning only three games. They are now four short of 10,000. Soon, very soon.

Thanks for reading. As always, stats are through Monday's games. Tell me if I'm missing anything. Also, Currently Historic will be taking a break next week. Try not to be too upset. This time apart will be good for both of us. I'm sure you can get along fine for just a little bit without me.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-06-05T07:16:15+00:00 Currently historic: Rick Ankiel and Dave Duncan form a new connection http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-rick-ankiel-and-dave-duncan-form-a-new-connection/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-rick-ankiel-and-dave-duncan-form-a-new-connection/#When:07:12:15
This week, I think it is appropriate to start our discussion with the two best hitters in baseball. I speak, of course, of Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto. I've been reading a lot of "Who is the best hitter?" stuff lately, and I think it's an interesting debate.

Miguel Cabrera's career wOBA is .404. Votto's is slightly higher at .415. Of course, Cabrera got an earlier start and it's really his first seasons that drag him down. If you go from 2010, he leads Votto .432 to .427. Since the beginning of last season, it's Votto again, .438 to .429.

I don't know who the best hitter is. I'm pretty sure Votto is the better player because he seems to contribute more on the defensive side, but in terms of ability with the bat, I don't think you can call a winner.

Speaking of these two fine hitters, let's see how they're doing this week.

Votto, you may remember, was on pace to reach base 350 times, something that has happened only five times since 1900. Votto has slipped just a bit and is currently on pace to reach base 348 times. Still worth tracking.

Chris Jaffe also pointed out this week that Votto was trying to become the fifth modern player to lead the league in walks and hits. He's still leading the league in walks, but is now second in hits. Once again, this is still worth tracking.

Cabrera, of course, is trying to win the triple crown for the second year in a row. He currently leads in average and RBI, but is second in homers to Chris Davis. Interestingly, Davis is holding Cabrera back from what I like to call the Sabr-Triple Crown. Cabrera is currently the league leader in average and OBP, but is second in slugging. Chris Davis has a .494 career slugging percentage and is a fine player. I'm not, however, betting on him to continue this torrid pace.

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Yu Darvish stayed on precisely the same pace and, through 11 starts, his 105 strikeouts put him on pace to finish with 315. Basically, he has to do what he's already done this year two more times. He is really, really good and is starting look like a fair bet to be the first pitcher in 11 years to fan 300.

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Bartolo Colon got back on track and walked no one this week. His current rate of .567 per nine innings isn't where it needs to be, but he's heading in the right direction, so we'll keep him around for one more week—at least.

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Strikeout tracking, week 4...

Chris Carter, 75 Ks, 229 K pace: Carter's pace slowed a little bit, but he's still on a record-breaking track. Interestingly, Carter currently has 156 games played and 580 plate appearances in his career. In that near-full-season of work he has 199 strikeouts.

Rickie Weeks 55 Ks, 181 K pace: He's slipping. I'll still track him, but he's always felt like a bit of a long shot to me.

Adam Dunn, 69 Ks, 224 K pace: Suddenly, Carter has some real competition. The difference here is that Carter has actually been a solid hitter and Adam Dunn has been terrible. I'm starting to wonder if he'll ever get the chance to break Reggie Jackson's all-time record. he still has 500 Ks to go. That would require him to play full time through most of 2015.

Rick Ankiel, 50 Ks, 153 K pace. Ankiel is currently striking out 46 percent of the time. Among players with 100 plate appearances (Ankiel has 108 as I write this), that is, surprisingly, common.

Ankiel would be the 23rd player to accomplish such a feat. However, 100 PAs seems to be the line. There is a reason for that, all the other players on the list are pitchers. Well, almost. The only exception is is Dave Duncan (yes, the pitching coach), who caught 34 games for the A's in 1967 and struck out 47 percent of the time. So, with every plate appearance for as long as he keeps up this strikeout rate, Rick Ankiel is doing something we have never seen a position player do before.

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The Astros and Braves are still on track to break the team strikeout record of 1,387. The current Astro pace is 1,557. The current Braves' pace is 1483. Several other teams are also in the neighborhood and could get themselves featured here if they closed their eyes and swung hard just a little more often.

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The weekly list grew last week. This week, it shrinks...

Doubles:
Oh man, Todd Helton. Still, nothing? Still. One double. One. That's all you need. Get into the top-20 so we can call off this charade. You know we loved you once, but it's time to walk out that door. It will hurt a little maybe, but it's what's best for all of us. (A note to commenters last week, I'd think about tracking Todd Helton's pursuit of 2,500 hits if he were still, you know, any good at all. If he picks it up, I'll change my tune).

Adrian Beltre, on the other hand, you sir, are doing a fine job. You are a doubles machine and now need only 23 more to reach 500. Keep it up, young man, keep it up.

David Ortiz moved himself along a little bit as well. He now needs just seven more to reach 500.

Home Runs:
Albert Pujols needs 17 to reach 500 and 30 to get into the top-20. I'm dropping the top-20 tracker. This is not the Albert Pujols we all know and he's not hitting 30 more homers this year.

Prince Fielder didn't homer this week, and it's probably time to stop tracking him as well. he hasn't his 40 homers since 2009, and it sure doesn't look like it's happening this year. He would need to finish with exactly 40 for the season to reach 300.

Torii Hunter, on the other hand, is keepin' on. He now has 299 homers.

Runs Batted in:
Albert Pujols now needs 35 to reach 1,500. This still seems a safe bet.

Stolen Bases:
Juan Pierre did not steal any bases this week and still has 604. However, he was caught once. And that, ladies and gentlemen, makes him the sixth man ever to be caught 200 times. Congratulation, or something, Mr. Pierre.

Michael Bourn stole three this week and needs 16 to reach 300.

Showing Up:
Mariano Rivera (1,072) has lept into fourth place all time in games played for pitchers. He needs 47 more to catch John Franco for third. A long shot, but not impossible. we'll keep an eye out.

Andy Pettitte (498) is in a brief holding pattern. However, CC Sabathia (394) and Bartolo Colon (385) continue to pitch every five days or so.

Wins:
CC Sabathia is still hanging out at 195.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon needs 33 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
11 more strikeouts will put Ryan Dempster at 2,000. That could be next week.

Walks:
Andy Pettitte is still two walks away from 1,000, of course.

Team Accomplishments:
Pittsburgh won six games since we last checked on them and now needs only seven to reach 10,000. Not next week, but the week after, almost for certain.


Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-05-30T07:12:15+00:00 Currently historic: A plethora of new stuff http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-plethora-of-new-stuff/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-plethora-of-new-stuff/#When:07:05:15
It is very early in the season, still. For evidence of that, we need look no further than Yu Darvish. Last week, he was on pace for 334 strikeouts. This week, he struck out six in his one start and now he's on pace for 315. He is still absolutely worth tracking, but at this point in the season, there can still be wild swings in a player's pace.

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Speaking of wild swings, last week, Bartolo Colon walked three batters, and thus quadrupled his walk total. He's now only a few hundredths ahead of Adam Wainwright for the lead league in walks per nine innings and not especially close to the record. I'll certainly keep an eye on him and probably track him for a few more weeks, but if he has another week like this, his time in this column will come to an end.

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Last week, I dropped Joey Votto because his walk totals were falling off. Then I noticed that he's on pace to reach base 352 times this year. Do you know how many times a modern player has reached base 350 times? Five. Babe Ruth three times, Ted Williams once, Barry Bonds once. That's the list. Even 330 has been done only 21 times, so Votto could fall of his current pace a bit and still be in pretty historic territory. We'll see, of course, but at this point in the season, I'll track just about anything, and this is a neat number.

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Speaking of tracking anything, you may recall that someone, I think his name is Miguel Cabrera, won the triple crown last year. As I write this, he leads the league in batting average and RBIs and is fifth in homers. Long way to go, certainly, but that would be very cool.

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Strikeout tracking, week 4...

Chris Carter, 66 Ks, 238 K pace: He just keeps on missin'. It's early, of course, but he might break the all-time single-season record (223).

Rickie Weeks 51 Ks, 192 K pace: Weeks picked up his rate a bit this week and continues to be a part of the Brewers' disastrous start to the season.

Adam Dunn, 54 Ks, 203 K pace: Adam Dunn has really turned it on lately. Good news for his playing time and our list.

Will Middlebrooks, 49 Ks, 176 K pace: Middlebrooks seems to be finding his way a bit. Unless he picks it up, this is the last you'll see of him.

Pedro Alvarez, we are done with you. You just aren't striking out enough.

Rick Ankiel, 42 Ks, 151 K. Ankiel is having such an interesting season. He's latched on with his second team now, he actually seems to be playing a bit more and he's striking out nearly half the time. I don't have a good read on the rest of his season, yet. But in a month or so, I might have to spend some real time on him. This may be a singularly unique season, as he's providing enough power to be an above average hitter despite the absurd strikeout level.

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The Astros, now several weeks without the aforementioned Rick Ankiel, are striking out a little less. Still, their 1,566 pace looks to put the record of 1,387 to shame.

Something I haven't mentioned yet, but probably should, is that the Braves are also striking out a ton. Their pace is for 1,476 strikeouts. We may well see the two teams with the most strikeouts ever this season.

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The weekly list has grown a bit...

Doubles:
Listen, Todd Helton, you have 573 doubles. 574 will put you in the top-20. Come on, man, just give us one more already.

Adrian Beltre needs 26 to reach 500. I thought his chances were borderline to start the year, but he's put himself in a good position and I like his chances.

Last year, I initially missed David Ortiz's pursuit of 400 homers and this year, it seems, I've missed his pursuit of 500 doubles. I really enjoy Ortiz, so there's no prejudice here, just bad luck. Anyway, he has 491 and should cross 500 soon.

Home runs:
Albert Pujols needs 18 to reach 500 and 31 to get into the top 20. And you know what's odd? I can imagine him not even getting to 500 this year. I mean, he probably will, but it wouldn't be shocking if he finished a few homers short, would it? Since 2009 his homer totals have declined steadily: 47, 42, 37, 30. A 25-homer season would put him right at 500, and it seems like a real possibility that this won't happen. Time catches everyone.

Prince Fielder hit one homers this week and needs 31 to reach 300.

THT editor-in-chief "Sockless" Joe Distelheim brought Torii Hunter to my attention this week. Hunter has 298 homers and should reach 300 any moment, despite his lack of power thus far this season.

Extra-base hits:
I'm going to stop tracking Todd Helton's quest for 1,000 extra-base hits. Sometimes, I find it amazingly hard to change my view of certain players. When I started the column this season, the idea that Todd Helton might not manage the 30-odd extra-base hits he needed to get to 1,000 seemed absurd. Todd Helton rolls out of bed and hits a double. He has six seasons of more than 70.

But, you know, there just doesn't seem to be much left in the tank. If he goes on a tear and gets close, I'll pick him back up, but for now, it's time to let it drop.

Runs batted in:
Albert Pujols now needs 41 to reach 1,500.

Stolen bases:
Juan Pierre now has 604 steals. He is currently 18th all-time. George Davis is 15 away, but certainly reachable in the next few months. He still needs one more failed attempt to reach 200.

Michael Bourn is just going for it. A couple of steals this week and now he needs only 19 to reach 300.

Showing up:
Mariano Rivera (1,070) is now tied with Hoyt Wilhelm for the fifth most appearances ever. He should be fourth by next week.

Andy Pettitte (499), CC Sabathia (393), and Bartolo Colon (383) continue to pitch every five days or so.

Wins:
CC Sabathia is still hanging out at 195.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon needs 35 to get to 300. That's going to be a tall task, but it's certainly possible. Especially if Boston keeps winning like this.

Strikeouts:
Ryan Dempster got on the horse this week. He now needs only 19 strikeouts to reach 2,000. That should happen sometime in the next few weeks.

Walks:
Andy Pettitte is just two walks away from 1,000 now.

Team accomplishments:
Pittsburgh continues to come on strong. The Pirates won five games this week and now need only 13 to reach 10,000. It's looking like that will happen sometime in early-to-mid June.

Thanks for reading. As always, stats are through Monday's games. Tell me if I'm missing anything.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-05-22T07:05:15+00:00 Currently historic: 300 strikeouts? http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-300-strikeouts/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-300-strikeouts/#When:07:03:15 Randy Johnson struck out 334 batters. That is the last time a major league pitcher topped 300 strikeouts.

So far in 2013, Yu Darvish has started eight games. He has 80 strikeouts. If he makes the major league standard 33 starts this year, that would be 330 strikeouts. I don't know if that will happen. (I never know anything. If I did we wouldn't need this column.)

As to Darvish, first, his numbers are appreciably better this year, so we might expect regression. But then, he's throwing his slider a lot more, so maybe that's it. He's 26, so he might still get better.

No one has come close to 300 Ks in recent years. Darvish is certainly the most intriguing candidate thus far, and we'll be keeping an eye on him.

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Time for a mea culpa. I screwed up last week by saying Cy Young held the single-season BB/9 record. It's actually Carlos Silva, who you only remember because he was active just a few years ago and not because he has a fancy pitching award named for him. Mistakes were made. I feel bad about it.

Still, we need to pay attention to Bartolo Colon. He's starting after this article goes to press, but since we last checked in, he pitched four (very poor) innings without walking a batter. So that's still one walk for the entire season. At 0.22 walks per nine innings, he's currently besting Silva by a couple of tenths. Stay tuned.

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Strikeout tracking, week 3...

Chris Carter, 57 Ks, 231 K pace: Carter really slowed down substantially this week, but he's still on pace to break the single-season record while providing solid offensive value.

Rickie Weeks 42 Ks, 184 K pace: Striking out 200 times is hard. Not everyone can do it. It's looking like Weeks might not have what it takes. He gets one more week to show us he's up for the challenge.

Adam Dunn, 46 Ks, 201 K pace: Sure, Adam Dunn is down a little, but he's still keeping the pace. His hitting line continues to be anemic, though. He needs to do better.

Will Middlebrooks, 43 Ks, 179 K pace: Middlebrooks is apparently playing hurt and his pace is down. He may be off this list next week.

Pedro Alvarez, 42 Ks, 174 K pace: Ahem. Another one falling off the pace. I expected that eventually the competition would be narrowed to Dunn and Carter, but it's looking like it might happen faster than I thought.

Rick Ankiel, 37 Ks, 154 K pace: Ankiel was cut (something else I missed last week. I promise to hustle to first extra hard in the future), but then the Mets grabbed him. We'll keep him here and see how things materialize.

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Joey Votto is down to a 137 walk pace. I'm going to drop him for now.

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The Astros struck out just a little less this week (probably because they don't have Ankiel anymore), but are still averaging almost exactly 10 Ks per game (it's like Yu Darvish is the only starting pitcher they ever face) and are on pace for 1,616. The record is 1,387. I have to keep typing that because I can't believe how not close the Astros are trying to make it.

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The weekly list. It's why you love me...

Doubles:
Todd Helton (573) still needs just one more double to enter the top-20. Come on, Todd, you're really milking it here.

Adrian Beltre keeps hitting doubles and now needs 29 to reach 500.

Home runs:
Albert Pujols' foot hurts. He didn't hit any homers. He still needs 20 to reach 500 and 33 to get into the top 20.

Prince Fielder hit one homer this week and needs 31 to reach 300.

Extra-base hits:
Todd Helton needs 35 extra base hits to get to 1,000. Really thinking about dropping this one. What do you think?

Runs batted in:
Albert Pujols now needs 45 to reach 1,500.

Stolen bases:
Juan Pierre (603) didn't steal any new bases this week. However, he was caught once and now needs only one more to reach 200.

Michael Bourn is back! He even stole a few bases and now needs 21 to get to 300.

Showing up:
Mariano Rivera (1,068) is all by himself in sixth place for the most appearances ever. Hoyt Wilhelm (1,070) and Dennis Eckersley (1,071) may fall by next week.

Andy Pettitte (498), CC Sabathia (391), and Bartolo Colon (382) continue to pitch every five days or so.

Wins:
Sabathia is still hanging out at 195.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon (264) needs 36 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
Once again, Ryan Dempster struck out only four. He now needs 31 to reach 2,000.

Walks:
Pettitte walked one this week and needs 5 to reach 1,000.

Team accomplishments:
Pittsburgh had four wins this week and needs 18 to make it to 10,000.

Thanks for reading. As always, stats are through Monday's games. Tell me if I'm missing anything.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-05-15T07:03:15+00:00 NL Central division update: May edition http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/nl-central-division-update-may-edition/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/nl-central-division-update-may-edition/#When:07:14:15

For many years, the NL Central has been maligned as one of the weaker divisions in baseball. The departure of the Astros this season improved the division, but it was expected that the rest of the teams would suffer from not having Houston to kick around anymore. I certainly expected that to happen.

Remarkably, as I write this (with a few games still to be completed Sunday night), the NL Central has, collectively, the best record in the NL and is second only to the AL East in all of baseball. Thus, for the moment, the state of the NL Central is strong.

Cubs (15-22)


If there was one thing everyone knew for sure about the Central this year, it was that the Cubs were going to finish last. Interestingly, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just about anyway you slice it, the Cubs' win total is lower than it should be. Various methods of projecting their expected win total put the total anywhere from 16 to 19 wins—a .500 team, roughly. How are they doing it?

For the Cubs, this year is all about pitching. Even with Edwin Jackson's disastrous beginning to the season (6.02 ERA), the Cubs rank third in the NL with a 3.56 ERA from their starters. And though they've been a little lucky, the advanced metrics seem to agree that the Cubs have a very solid starting staff so far this year.

Offensively, it's been less promising. The Cubs don't really hit, and they aren't going to. They may, however, bat well enough to muster something like a .500 record.

I'll be honest, when I sat down to write this article, I was prepared to write the standard "Cubs stink, sun rises" section you'd all expect, but looking at what they've done this year, it seems like they might get a little something going this year. They aren't making the playoffs, but I wouldn't be stunned to see them at .500 next time one of these is posted.

Brewers (15-20)


Anyone who writes about sports occasionally finds they wished they had gone with their gut. I did a lot of projections before the season started, and I generally had the Brewers as the third-best team in the Central with an outside shot at the Wild Card. It didn't feel right to me, though. There was something about this team I didn't like.

Of course, now everyone can claim I'm changing my tune because of how poorly they've played, and to an extent that's true. Still, I thought about dropping them lower, and now I wish I had.

Though they don't, at the moment, have the worst record in the Central, they have been the worst team. The pitching hasn't been there at all, with a 4.71 ERA that's dead last in the league. Their 4.36 FIP has the Brewers second to last. xFIP is a little more generous, but this is not a pitching team.

Milwaukee does hit, though. So far, the Brewers have done better at the dish than any other team in the NL. That's good, but let me tell you something: when, due to injury or incompetence, your team is counting on Yuniesky Betancourt at first base, you have a problem. The news I've seen on Corey Hart is encouraging, and the Brewers certainly have to hope he comes back as soon as he can, because Betancourt is not hitting 40 homers this year.

A lot has gone wrong for the Brewers already this year. They are now 7.5 games back and, sadly for Miwaukee fans, in a division as strong as the Central, they may be playing for next year already.

Pirates (21-16)


Hey Pirates fans! Your team is five games over .500! They've spent time in first place! When was the last time that happened? Oh, right, last year. And how did that team finish? Not even a winning record? Bummer.

I write that not to poke fun, but to point out how rough the last few seasons have been for downtrodden Pirates fans. This team has taunted its fans for several years now, and it has to be hard to really believe. My rooting interest is in the Reds, but it's awfully hard not to pull for Pittsburgh at times. So, are they really putting it together? Quite possibly.

I wrote in my Pirates season preview that the rotation was suspect, and that's proven to be true. No one beyond A.J. Burnett has provided real value, though there is at least some hope in the recent appearance of Francisco Liriano.

Right now, the Pirates owe much of their success to Starling Marte and Russell Martin, both of whom have been fabulous. With Martin, it's hard to believe he'll keep it up. Marte is more of a wild card. Though he's never shown this much power in the minors, fans have plenty of reasons to think he'll continue to be one of the top contributors this year.

When I look at the Pirates, I see a textbook picture of what should be expected of a team this early in the season. Some guys are playing over their heads. Others (I'm looking at you Pedro Alvarez) have been much worse than should be expected. In the end, it should balance, and the Pirates may—finally—finish over .500. We'll just have to wait and see.

Reds (22-16)


It's May 13th, and the Reds already have lost their starting left fielder for most of the season, their No. 1 starter for a month, their top catcher for several weeks, and their backup left fielder for two weeks. Even with Joey Votto's knee injury, the Reds were very lucky on the injury front last year. This is not a team with a lot of depth, and injuries are a major concern. However, aside from Ryan Ludwick, everyone is getting healthy and, miraculously, the Reds find themselves six games over .500 having just completed the toughest part of their schedule.

So far, the Reds have had six starting pitchers throw a significant number of innings. Five of them have ERAs better than the average major league starter. The sixth, Mike Leake, is only a tick or two off that average. This team can pitch, but then, we knew that. Any questions about this team revolved around hitting.

Shin-Soo Choo has been a revelation. He has been the best hitter on a team that includes Votto. Choo's .316/.456/.569 line is beyond what even a fan's wildest dreams could hope for. There's no way he keeps this up. Luckily for Reds fans, however, he is the only offensive player who's over-performing. Jay Bruce has been especially bad (though he's been remembering how to hit lately), but this team simply hasn't hit as it should have.

The Reds are getting healthy and, only two games behind the Cardinals, are far from dead. If the bats come around—and they should—this will be a very scary team, which is what most expected when the season began.

Cardinals (23-13)


I don't know how they do it, but the Cardinals always seem to have outstanding pitching. Anyway you want to slice it, any metric you want to look at, the Cardinals have been head and shoulders above every other NL team when it comes to pitching. Unless you root for them, it is profane. There has been some luck, of course, but even when we cancel out the luck, they still have the best pitching in the National League.

When it comes to offense, however, they are much more middle-of-the-pack, and it's hard to see them moving too much. They have some very good hitters, yes, but they also have guys who aren't likely to do much of anything with the bat. Additionally, with a couple of notable exceptions on the pitching side of the coin, the Cardinals haven't had many injuries.

I could write more about the Cardinals, and I feel like maybe I should, but they've played very well. And with very bad teams and very good teams, there is often not much insight to offer. I will say that I think they have played a bit over their heads so far. I am absolutely biased, but I will also say that I think this team is better than I gave it credit for at the beginning of the year. The race between the Cardinals and the Reds should be very interesting to watch as the season progresses.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-05-13T07:14:15+00:00 Currently historic: A truly rare achievement http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-truly-rare-achievement/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-truly-rare-achievement/#When:07:12:15
So here's something new: This year, Bartolo Colon has pitched 37.1 innings. Guess how many batters he's walked?

One.

Right now, he is averaging 0.2 walks per nine innings. To find someone else in that league, you have to go back to George Zettlein who once walked six in 234 innings. He also struck out 10 that year. It was 1876. Times were different.

I don't know if Bartolo Colon is going to set a modern record for the infrequency with which he offers free passes. I do know he has been an excellent control pitcher for a long time and I'm going to pay attention.

By the way, in 1904, Cy Young finished the season with 0.687 walks per nine innings. That's the modern record. If Colon throws exactly 162 innings this season, he can walk 11 more batters and still beat that number. Stay tuned.

----

In 2007, Kenny Lofton played his final major league game. Since that time, there have been no active major leaguers with 600 stolen bases. Indeed, Lofton didn't reach that number until that final season. But now, the club has a new member.

This week, Juan Pierre stole base number 600 (and 601, 602, and 603). Pierre has never been a great player, but he has often been a solid one and he has always been able to run. He has fewer years in the majors than all but two of the men ahead of him on the list (dead-ball player Billy Hamilton had 14, the same as Pierre now has, and Vince Coleman had 13). If teams keep giving him the chance to play every day, he could move quite a bit higher on the list.

When Pierre plays, he still seems to be a good bet for 30 or more steals a season. He's off to a banner start this year, with 12 already. If he gets 20 more before the end of the season, he'll pass Kenny Lofton for 15th. Another season of 30 steals on top of that gets him to only 14th. One more and he's 12th.

To enter the top 10, Pierre would need 120 more steals than he has right now. That would tie him with Honus Wagner at 723. That seems like a tall task to me, but it's certainly possible. I hope Pierre continues to be good enough to convince teams to play him every day. We'll keep him on the list here as he continues his climb up the charts and his pursuit of 200 times being caught stealing.

----

Time for week two of strikeout tracking. Remember, we're tracking only players whose career numbers seem to indicate a reasonable chance of hitting 200 strikeouts.

Chris Carter, 51 Ks, 264 K pace: Carter's pace has slowed just slightly. Remarkably, it would take only a good game or two for him to be a league-average hitter.

Rickie Weeks 37 Ks, 199 K pace: Down a bit here. Still basically a 200 K pace, though.

Adam Dunn, 39 Ks, 216 K pace: Dunn turned it up a bit this week. His hitting has been awful so far this year, though. I wonder if he might be done (yes, or Dunn. Fine, fine, I made the joke, are you happy now?)

Will Middlebrooks, 38 Ks, 197 K pace: Down a bit. There was some sentiment in the comments last week that Middlebrooks is going to get only so many chances. I'll try to keep a close eye on him.

Pedro Alvarez, 35 Ks, 193 Ks pace: Exactly the same pace he was on last week.

Rick Ankiel, 35 Ks, 177 K pace: Ankiel is probably not going to K 200 times, he's just striking out so much while playing in only about 80 percent of his teams games that I have to track him. And in some of those games he's pinch-hitting. It's amazing.

----

Joey Votto has been walking a bit less lately (and is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak) and is now on pace for just 147 walks. That's still worth tracking as a decent week will put him back over the 150 walk pace.

----

The Astros actually upped their strikeout pace last week and are now averaging more than 10 per game. Their current pace would have them finish with 1,635. They really might make the current record of 1,387 look trivial as their current pace would have them pass it with almost a month to go in the season.

----

Now's it's time for our weekly list...

Doubles:
Todd Helton (573) is back from the DL, so the one double he needs to enter the top 20 should be forthcoming reasonably soon.

Adrian Beltre had a double this week and needs 31 more to reach 500.

Home runs:
Albert Pujols continues his march to 500. He now needs only 20, and 33 more will get him into the top 20.

Prince Fielder hit two homers this week and needs 32 to reach 300.

Extra-base hits:
Todd Helton still needs 36 extra base hits to get to 1,000. We'll see.

Runs batted in:
Albert Pujols now needs 47 to reach 1,500.

Stolen bases:
Michael Bourn (277) is on the DL, but there are at least rumors of a rehab assignment soon. We'll keep him around.

Showing up:
Mariano Rivera is now in a tie with Dan Plesac for the sixth most appearances ever (1,064). Hoyt Wilhelm (1,070) and Dennis Eckersley (1,071) are next.

Andy Pettitte (497 starts), CC Sabathia (390), and Bartolo Colon (381) keep on keepin' on. Barry Zito started his 400th last week, and Roy Halladay (384) is hurt. (I think we all saw that coming, didn't we?)

Wins:
Tim Hudson, who we've already talked about at some length, got win number 200 before last week's article was even up. It will be interesting to see if he can stick around long enough to get to 250. He might have an interesting Hall of Fame case if he does. Sabathia (195) didn't win any this week. He's try again next week.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon (262) needs 38 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
Ryan Dempster struck out only four last time out and needs 35 to reach 2000.

Walks:
Pettitte needs only six to reach 1000.

Team Accomplishments:
Pittsburgh had a rough week and needs 22 wins to make it to 10,000.

Thanks for reading. As always, stats are through Monday's games. Tell me if I'm missing anything.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-05-08T07:12:15+00:00 Currently historic: That’s a lot of strikeouts http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-thats-a-lot-of-strikeouts/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-thats-a-lot-of-strikeouts/#When:07:06:15
1. Chris Carter, 44 Ks, 283 K pace— Carter is a slightly better than average hitter even with this mammoth strikeout pace, so I don't see him going to the bench (and he plays for Houston). He won't K 283 times, but barring injury, I'd place his odds of getting to 200 at 117 percent.

2. Jay Bruce, 38 Ks, 228 K pace—Bruce always has slumps. He started this year with one. His career high in Ks is 158. He might hit 200, but I doubt it. Peg his odds at 30 percent.

3. J.P. Arencibia, 37 Ks, 238 K pace—Arencibia has a higher pace than Bruce because Toronto has played one fewer game than the Reds. As with Bruce, there's no background suggesting he'll continue to swing and miss this often. Another 30-percenter.

4. Mike Napoli, 36 Ks, 233 K pace—Not happening. No way, no how. 15 percent chance at best.

5. Colby Rasmus, 36 Ks, 231 K pace—I can see it with Rasmus a little more than Napoli, but not much. Call it a 15.5 percent chance (remember, I'm making these numbers up just for fun!).

6. Rickie Weeks, 34 Ks, 229 K pace— Now we might finally have something. Weeks does have a 184-strikeout season under his belt. So, this is certainly possible. He'll need to hit better than he has, but there's no reason to think that won't happen. Call it a 45 percent chance.

7. Dan Uggla, 33 Ks, 213 K pace— Another solid possibility. Uggla sits somewhere between Weeks and Bruce; he's been in the neighborhood before even if he hasn't exactly knocked on the door. 35 percent chance.

8. B.J. Upton, 32 Ks, 207 K pace—A lot like Bruce in terms of Ks. Call it 30 percent.

9. Alejandro De Aza, 30 Ks, 210 K pace—I find it very unlikely. 10 percent.

10. Adam Dunn, 30 Ks, 210 K pace—The question is whether he'll hit enough to keep playing. If he does, take it to the bank. But then, he might not. 80 percent.

11. Will Middlebrooks, 30 Ks, 201 K pace—I'll confess to not knowing much about Middlebrooks. What I see makes this seem like a possibility. 50 percent? How does that sound?

Bonus Players: Pedro Alvarez is on pace for 193 Ks, but is a better bet than many of the players listed. Rick Ankiel is playing in only 77 percent of Houston's games, but is still on pace to strike out 180 times. Wow.

Okay, so strikeout wise, this is who I plan to follow. You can tell me in the comments if you agree or disagree: Carter, Weeks, Dunn, Middlebrooks, Alvarez, Ankiel. Those guys seem to me like the best bet to have monster strikeout seasons.

----

In other news, Joey Votto and Shin-Soo Choo both ceased to merit tracking where OBP is concerned. Mr. Votto, however, is still on pace to top 150 walks (156), so we'll keep an eye on him for at least one more week.

----

Justin Upton, you keep it up. I've got my eye on you. I'm not convinced we need to track you just yet, but I'm paying attention.

----

Last week, Greg Simons ID'd Houston's ridiculous strikeout rate and we will certainly start tracking that. The all-time record is 1,387 Ks. The Astros are currently on pace for 1,588. They are averaging very nearly 10 Ks per game as a team.

----

Now's it's time for our weekly list...

Doubles:
Todd Helton (573) is on the DL, so it will be a while before he gets the one more double he needs to enter the top 20.

Adrian Beltre had a double this week and needs 32 more to reach 500.

Home runs:
Albert Pujols hit a pair in that Monday-night marathon and now has 479. That's 21 to reach 500 and 33 to enter the top 20.

Prince Fielder hit one of his own and needs 34 to get to 300.

Extra base hits:
Helton, again, is DL'd. He still needs 36 extra base hits to get to 1,000. This might not happen for him.

Runs batted in:
Pujols had five RBI this week and needs 50 to reach 1500.

Stolen bases:
Juan Pierre had a heck of a week. He stole five bases and is achingly close (599) to 600. Seriously, you should be aching right now. If you aren't, you're not doing baseball fandom right. He is still two caught stealings away from 200.

Michael Bourn (277) is on the DL, but there are at least rumors of a rehab assignment soon. We'll keep him around.

Showing up:
Mariano Rivera is now the seventh most game-playing pitcher ever. Three away is Dan Plesac with 1,064 appearances. Rivera will likely end up fourth sometime in the coming weeks and has an outside shot at third by the end of the season.

Andy Pettitte (496), Barry Zito (399), Roy Halladay (382), CC Sabathia (389), and Bartolo Colon (380). Games started. Round numbers. Steady pace. You get the idea.

Wins:
Tim Hudson (199) is still trying to win number 200. Maybe next week. Sabathia (195) notched a win.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon (261) needs 39 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
Ryan Dempster is starting the year well. He needs 39 to reach 2,000.

Walks:
Pettitte now needs 10 to reach 1000.

Team accomplishments:
Pittsburgh needs 24 wins to make it to 10,000.

Thanks for reading. As always, stats are through Monday's games. Tell me if I'm missing anything.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-05-01T07:06:15+00:00 Currently historic: A new strikeout king? http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-new-strikeout-king/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-new-strikeout-king/#When:07:12:15
Let's start with our weekly Adam Dunn strikeout update. Mr. Dunn continues to strike out at a prodigious rate. He is striking out an almost unbelievable 37 percent of the time and is on pace for 241 strikeouts. That would be a record, and while it's early, Dunn did strike out 222 times last season. Dunn is, however, going to improve his production if he hopes to keep playing every day—.101/.151/.246 is not getting it

Remarkably, however, Dunn does not currently lead the league in strikeouts. There are several ahead of him, but the title, for the moment goes to Astro Chris Carter with 31. That puts him on pace for 262. We should probably start keeping an eye on him because: 1. He has a history of striking out at a high rate in his brief career, 2. He plays for the Astros, who, well, you know, we don't really need to pile on, and 3. He may actually be pretty productive if things fall right.

----

You'll recall, perhaps, that Joey Votto made his first appearance in our little corner of the baseball world last week. He's "fallen off" a little since then in that he is now on pace for only 210 walks. Barry Bonds in 2004 has the only 200-walk season ever (he had 232). I wouldn't necessarily bet on Votto hitting the 200 mark, but there have been 11 seasons in which a player has garnered 150 walks and it would not be especially surprising if he managed that.

In addition to the lofty walk total, Votto and teammate Shin-Soo Choo both have OBPs over .500. Votto is dead on .500 while Choo is at .521. Choo has benefited from a surplus of hit-by-pitches and is probably the less likely to maintain that ridiculous level. For the record, a player has posted a .500 OBP 19 times in major league history—14 if you start the clock in 1900. And yes, I am aware of Lance Berkman's .484 OBP, but there are a number of reasons I'm not quite ready to track him. If he keeps it up for another week or two, we'll talk.

----

As is always the case, there are certainly some other gaudy stats around the league, but for now, I'm trying to limit season-tracking to those with a track record or those who have really set themselves apart from the league. So now it's on to the lists...

Doubles:
Todd Helton is a little banged up, but now has 573 doubles and needs only one more to enter the top 20. It's been a long march (we started track his progress last season), but it looks like he'll get there.

Adrian Beltre had a pair of doubles and needs 33 more to reach 500 for his career.

Home runs:
Albert Pujols hit no baseballs over the outfield fence this week. Neither did he circle the bases on an extra bouncy liner or anything. Correspondingly, he still has 477 homers. That's 23 to reach 500 and 35 to enter the top 20.

Prince Fielder hit one, though, and needs 35 to get to 300.

Extra base hits:
Todd Helton, who really had a good week, needs 36 extra base hits to get to 1000.

Runs batted in:
Albert Pujols had four RBI this week and needs 55 to reach 1500.

Stolen bases:
Juan Pierre stole two bases and needs only six to reach 600. He'll get a big write-up when he does. He was is still two caught stealings away from 200.

Michael Bourn (277) is hurt, but it looks minor and we won't take him off the radar for now.

Showing Up:
Mariano Rivera now needs just three more appearances to have the seventh most ever.

Andy Pettitte (494), Barry Zito (398), Roy Halladay (381), CC Sabathia (388), and Bartolo Colon (378) continued their various marches toward 400 or 500 games started.

Mark Buehrle, however, crossed the finish line. Since he's unlikely to appear here again this year, we should perhaps pause to admire his consistency. He seems like the kind of pitcher who can keep on winning 12 or 14 games a year forever. He probably won't, of course, but here's hoping we're back celebrating his 200th win sometime next year.

Wins:
Tim Hudson (199) didn't quite make it to 200. Maybe next week. CC Sabathia (194) notched a win and seems like a good bet to make it in May or June.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon (261) needs 39 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
A.J. Burnett, who is having a heck of a start to the season, blew past 2,000 strikeouts. A nice achievement. Burnett is one of those guys who never really did what he was supposed to do, but is still going to end up with a very nice major league career.

Ryan Dempster has a bit to go yet, but the 49 strikeouts he needs to reach 2,000 will come eventually.

Walks:
Andy Pettitte walked one and now needs 12 to reach 1,000.

Team accomplishments:
Pittsburgh is getting closer. The Pirates now need 29 wins to make it to 10,000.

More than 10 percent of the season is gone now. Is there anything I should be tracking that I'm not?

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-04-24T07:12:15+00:00 Currently historic: A surprising comparison http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-surprising-comparison/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-a-surprising-comparison/#When:07:16:15
Let's highlight this week's big achievement with a fun comparison:
Pitcher A: 200-102, 2,080 Ks, 3.33 ERA
Pitcher B: 199-104, 1,814 Ks, 3.41 ERA

Pretty close, right? I mean, you'd probably give it to pitcher A if you had to pick, but you aren't going wrong with either of these guys. If you've been paying attention, you know who each of these guys is. Pitcher A is Roy Halladay. Pitcher B is Tim Hudson. How many of you, until right now, thought of them as similar? I didn't.

And they aren't really that similar. Halladay strikes out a fair bit more batters, and Hudson walks a fair bit more. Yet, somehow, the results have been almost exactly the same. Halladay, however, blows Hudson away in WAR 68.4 to 47.0. And most of that is because while Halladay's FIP (3.34) is right in line with his career ERA, Hudson has beat his (3.78) substantially.

Do I think Tim Hudson has been as good as Roy Halladay? No, I do not. But it's a fun comparison to make and given that Hudson has thrown 2,700 innings, I have to wonder if FIP might be missing something with him. He might just be lucky, of course, but I don't think anyone believes FIP is perfect.

So, perhaps, when Tim Hudson wins his 200th game here soon, we should look at him with a little more respect than we have been.

----

Adam Dunn, you may have heard, has changed his hitting approach. So far, it's not working out for him. Since he seems to be actively trying not to walk, I'm not going to worry about his TTO outcomes for a while. However, I am going to keep track of his strikeouts. He currently has 16, and while that's not quite enough to put him on pace to break the record, it's early, and there's still plenty of time.

----

With the caveat that it is, of course, still very early, I feel I must inform you that Joey Votto is on pace for 262 walks. He currently leads baseball with 21. Number two is Albert Pujols with 11. Last year, Votto lead the NL in walks, despite playing in only 111 games.

So this has been coming. Votto's walk rates have been climbing steadily since he broke into the league and he said in the offseason that he has "decided not to make outs," and he seems to be keeping that promise. Even if you take out his intentional walks, Votto would be on pace to walk 224 times, just eight short of the single season record. He probably won't break the record, but it would be pretty cool and he has separated himself from the pack enough to merit our attention.

Now, onto the lists...

Doubles:
Todd Helton managed two doubles and now has 572. Two more and he will enter the top 20.

Adrian Beltre did not double this week and still needs 35 more to reach 500 for his career.

Home runs:
Pujols added no new homers and is still sitting on 477. He needs 23 to reach 500 and 35 to enter the top 20.

Prince Fielder hit two, however, and needs 36 to get to 300.

Extra base hits:
Pujols doubled three times this week and now has 1001 extra base hits. I guess he's probably a Hall of Famer now, or something. Todd Helton still needs 40 more to get there.

Runs batted in:
Albert Pujols had two this week and needs 59 to reach 1,500.

Stolen bases:
Juan Pierre stole his first base of the year this week and needs eight to reach 600. He was is still two caught-stealings away from 200.

Michael Bourn (277) didn't steal any this week and holds steady in his pursuit of 300.

Showing up:
Mariano Rivera has three appearances so far this season and needs six more to have the seventh most appearances ever.

Andy Pettitte (493), Mark Buehrle (399), Barry Zito (396), Halladay (380), CC Sabathia (386), and Bartolo Colon (377) continued their various marches toward 400 or 500 games started.

Wins:
The aforementioned Halladay got to 200. Tim Hudson (199) should get there any day. Sabathia (193) is a bit behind those two, but well on his way.

Saves:
Jonathan Papelbon (260) needs 40 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
A.J. Burnett needs just two strikeouts to reach 2000. Ryan Dempster needs 57.

Walks:
With four walks this past week, Dempster officially has 1,000. Pettitte walked three and now needs just 13 to get there.

Team accomplishments:
Pittsburgh had a solid week and needs 33 wins to reach 10,000.

That's it for this week. Let me know in the comments what I'm missing, especially as we start to get more of the season under the belt and potential in-season accomplishments become more trackable.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-04-17T07:16:15+00:00 Currently historic: The return of Adam Dunn http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-the-return-of-adam-dunn/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/currently-historic-the-return-of-adam-dunn/#When:07:03:15 Adam Dunn. You may remember Mr. Dunn from his near-but-not-quite historic strikeout and Three True Outcomes (TTO) achievements last year.

Well guess what? His TTO percentage is 46 and he's struck out nine times in six games. This is something to watch. Dunn almost broke the single season strikeout record last year (only a late season injury stopped him), and if he stays healthy, he's a good bet to do it this year.

That's the only current-season achievement we have to track right now (we'll add more in the coming weeks), but let's take a look at how some of our career-achievers are doing. You'll note, by the way, that I'm temporary removing players who are DL'd. Once Derek Jeter gets into the lineup, for instance, he'll be all over this list, but for now, you can refer to last week's column if you want to know about those who are starting the year banged up.

Doubles:
Todd Helton played, but did not double this week. Thus, he still needs four more to move into the top 20.

Adrian Beltre had two doubles and now needs only 35 more to reach 500 for his career.

Home runs:
Albert Pujols went deep twice this past week, giving him 477 homers. He needs 23 to reach 500 and 35 to enter the top 20.

Prince Fielder also hit a pair and needs 38 to get to 300.

Extra base hits:
Pujols added a double to his two homers and needs just two more to get to 1,000. Helton still needs 40 more to get there.

Runs batted in:
Pujols is now 61 short of 1500.

Stolen bases:
Juan Pierre did not steal a base this past week and still needs nine to reach 600. He was caught once, though, and is now just two away from becoming the sixth man to be caught 200 times.

Michael Bourn (277) stole a sack and thus began his pursuit of 300.

Showing up:
Mariano Rivera got into two games and needs six more to have the seventh most appearances ever.

Andy Pettitte (492), Mark Buehrle (397), Barry Zito (395), Roy Halladay (377) and Bartolo Colon (376) began their steady marches to round numbers. I somehow missed CC Sabathia last week, but with 385 starts, he's on this train as well.

Wins:
Tim Hudson (198) and Sabathia (192) got moving toward 200. Halladay (199) is, um, still putting his boots on.

Saves:
Joe Nathan got to 300 saves, so perhaps a few words are in order about him. Being an NL guy, I'll confess that I never paid much attention to Nathan. He was just one of those guys in the AL throwing up saves. Good for my fantasy team, but not someone who set me on fire. However, given that he didn't start closing until he was 29, it's a very impressive total. Rivera managed only 59 more saves than Nathan during his age-29 to 37 seasons. When you consider that Nathan lost an entire year to injury, he really has been something.

Jonathan Papelbon (258) needs 42 to get to 300.

Strikeouts:
A.J. Burnett now needs 10 strikeouts to reach 200. Ryan Dempster needs 74.

Walks:
Pettitte (984) and Ryan Dempster (996) both moved a little closer to 1,000 walks.

Team accomplishments:
Pittsburgh now needs 37 wins to reach 10,000. Given how the Pirates have started the season, that might take a while.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Jason Linden 2013-04-10T07:03:15+00:00